Birding field report - April, the second week.

Rufus Robin - Photo by Max Berlijn

Early April is usually a transitional period in the spring migration. Several species have already peaked and are winding down in numbers. Several wintering species are becoming scarce and new and interesting migrants are popping up daily. With the weather being crazy and unpredictable it is hard to guess what will show up and when. The past few days were hot, humid (by our standards) and misty. This makes birding hard, but still as rewarding as ever. The spring's second Black-bush Robin showed up and the birding is steady and interesting. Here is a summary of the last few days.

The greatly anticipated southern storm never showed up and a heavy, misty eastern heat wave engulfed the Arava. The 8 th found me on the north beach of Eilat at first light. We quickly realized that the winds are not in our favor and we left after 2 depressing hours. It turned out to be quite a good morning with the Lutea Wagtail at K20 and the 2 Red-necked Phalaropes at the IRBCE park (see previous post).

Little Crake

I ran a night tour to try for the Hume's Owl, but with the heavy haze, wind, and nearly no light we only managed to hear a distant Owl's call twice from somewhere in the wadi, but got no views… On the way to the site we did manage to find a nice Mourning Wheatear. On our return to civilization that night I received the message that Eran Dvir and Peter Geffen found a Black Bush Robin near their guest room at Yahel.

So early on Saturday the 9 th we gathered at Yahel. Liron Ziv and I met Max Berijn and Eric Koops who had already had good views of the bird. Unfortunately we managed only a short look and no images. The bird is most likely a first year/female bird, showing a lot of lighter brown feathers, especially on the primaries and coverts, and the white undertail crescents were not pure white. When the bird eventually flew off it clearly showed dark rufous patches on the wings. The bird shared a compost heap with a very territorial Rufous Bush Robin.

That night we set out to the Dead Sea area for a Nubian Nightjar tour. A brief stop at the famous fishpond produced no less than 4 Little Crakesand 1 Baillon's Crake, a Little Bittern and of course the local (and loud) Clamourous Reed Warblers. It took some work but we eventually got great views of at least 3 Nubian Nightjars as well.

Little Tern

Sunday the 10 th was a fairly slow day. Temperatures rose to the high 30's and not many birds were on the move. The pools at K20 held only few waders and not much new. Worth reporting was a quite late, first year Pallas's Gullon the bank and 1 White-winged Tern.

I finished the day with a Seawatch at the North Beach . I was joined by 7 foreign birders and we all enjoyed the quiet seas and quite a few good birds. At least 2 Pomarine Skuas and 1 Arctic Skua were harassing the Common Terns far offshore. At least 3 Sooty Shearwaters were visible but stayed far offshore. At least 30 White-eyed Gulls, 60 Common Terns and 45 Little Terns were resting on the fishcages. A single Caspian and Gull-billed Terns hunted close to shore and a"blue" morph Western Reef Heron slowly flew inland at nearly last light, a great way to end a good Seawatch.

The heavy haze and heat made birding uncomfortable on Monday the 11 th. I decided to look for slightly cooler weather above the valley at Neot Smadar. The fields held very few birds, naturally, with 37 degrees at 16:00 … but the spectacular lake in the kibbutz was well worth the visit. The vegetated banks were dotted with Herons and Egrets from 7 different species as follows: 15 Grey Herons, 7 Little Egrets, 12 Cattle Egrets, 4 Squacco Herons, 3 Night Herons, 1 Purple Heron and at least 3 Little Bitterns ! It truly is an amazing place, and in the middle of the desert… Besides the impressive gathering of Ardeidae , 3 Little Crakes and a female type Semi-collared Flycatcher were in the area. I am happy to bring you several images from the past few days. Enjoy.

More will follow soon.

Jonathan Meyrav and the Birding Israel team.

Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)